First Tier of Early Bird Discount Tickets for June 29th Los Angeles Big Band Battle Available Only Until This Sunday, May 26th (Frankie Manning‘s 99th Birthday)

GET YOUR DISCOUNT TICKETS NOW ONLINE HERE, DON’T PROCRASINATE!\

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The Gauntlet has been thrown -

LA’s Dean Mora’s Modern Rhythmists

vs.

NYC’s George Gee Swing Orchestra

West Coast vs. East Coast!

Official West Coast Frankie99 Swing Dance Event on June 29th

Two of the nation’s premier 12pc. swing dance orchestras set up side-by-side for an old school ‘Battle of The Big Bands’ at the former location of The Satin Ballroom in Culver City, CA.

A must attend, epic, don’t-miss event of the year,
produced solely by these two old skool swing veterans
(Dean & George)

If you haven’t been dancing much lately – this is your reason to come on back out and support! If you still swing hard now, then you have EXTRA reasons to attend!

This swing dance spectacular also honors West Coast Favorite Jean Veloz and legendary East Coast Savoy Dancer Frankie Manning.
This is an official sanctioned Frankie99 celebration!
All under the auspices of MC Extraordinaire Maxwell DeMille. 

Performance groups already confirmed:
The Atomic Ballroom Lindy Hop Colliders 
The Hollywood Hotshots
Steve & Chandrae’s California Jubilee Shag & Lindy Team
San Diego’s Hang Ten Hoppers

Dance lessons provided at 7pm by some of SoCal’s top instructors: 
Shesha & Nikki Marvin – Beginner Lesson 
Ben Yau & Sheri Kang – Intermediate Lesson 
Steve Sayer & Chandrae Roettig – Advanced Lesson

WHAT A LINE-UP!  WHAT A SHOW!  EPIC!  AWESOME!  SWINGIN’!

 *GET YOUR DISCOUNT TICKETS NOW ONLINE HERE*

Jazz Tap Legend Buster Brown Centennial Celebration

As we approach the great Savoy dancer Frankie Manning’s 99th Birthday this weekend on May 26th, I was pleasantly reminded about the recent centennial celebration for another superb dancer – Buster Brown!  Frankie was the King of Lindy Hop and Buster was the Majestic Monarch of Jazz Tap, both true transcendent American art forms in their own right.  I was honored and flattered to be invited to speak at the Buster Brown Centennial Celebration here in New York City produced by Buster protege Michela Marion Lehrman, who runs the wildly weekly Tap Jam Session at Small’s Jazz Club.  Michela was first introduced to me by Buster himself when she was a young up and coming teenage talent in the tap world.  “Michela is going places, you watch out for her!,” exclaimed Buster and Buster always spoke the truth.  She organized a true heartfelt weekend of loving tribute to Buster.

My connection to all these festivities is my humble involvement of starting “Buster Brown’s Crazy Tap Jam” at Swing46 Jazz & Supper Club back in 1997.  As the club’s musical director at that time, we were looking to fill an early Sunday evening time slot with something different, but still well-rooted in swing tradition.  Having met Dr. Buster Brown (him with an honorary Ph.D from Oklahoma City University) and the privilege of musically accompanying him on several occasions, his old skool character and personality was the ONLY choice to host and develop the Swing46 Tap Jam.  He handled the challenge with gusto and the event became world renown and had a long and healthy run on Sunday evenings at Swing46.  Celebrity jazz tappers were regularly in attendance (Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Stumpy Cromer, Jimmy Slyde, Sandman Sims, The Nicholas Brothers,among the many) and Buster was always the gracious host – with his welcoming arms to tap enthusiasts  and music lovers of ALL levels!

It seemed appropriate that the grand finale was back at SWING46 last night with the reunion of “Buster Brown’s Crazy Tap Jam.”  The tap electricity was static in the club’s atmosphere and the Buster love was evident in every corner of the room.  Buster has been gone for over a decade, but his spirit and memories are as strong as they ever were – maybe even stronger.  As much as I always feel honored to have a personal and professional relationship with the great dance icon Frankie Manning, it occurs to me that being part of Buster Brown’s elite inner circle is an equal distinction that I shall always treasure as  a badge of honor.

Big Band swing music makes you happy.  Lindy Hop makes you happy.  And so does Jazz Tap! Happy 100th Birthday, Sir Dr. Buster Brown!

In the summer of 2012, The George Gee Swing Orchestra was honored to be the featured American Big Band in a jazz festival tour of three major cities in Brazil.  The I LOVE JAZZ festival made stops in Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and, of course, Rio de Janeiro.  Bringing its style of hard-hittin’ big band jazz to enthusiastic music lovers and lindyhoppers, the band performed in front of thousands (the biggest audience was at Belo Horizonte, with an estimated 12,000 attendees) and continued to spread the Gospel of Swing!